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Just imagine if Einstein hadn't slipped off the toilet, hit his head on the bathroom sink and thus discovered the flux capacitor? History would have remembered him merely as "that failed refrigerator guy!"

Today in History: Einstein Received Patent for Safe RefrigeratorOn November 11, 1930 — 84 years ago today — Albert Einstein (and his former student, Leó Szilárd) was granted a patent for a refrigerator design! The original refrigerator design was invented by Swedish engineering students, Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munters, in the early 1920s, and developed into a manufacturing process by the AB Artic company, which was bought by Electrolux in 1925. Shortly after being on the market, this original refrigerator reportedly caused the deaths of a Berlin family after a moving-part seal in the refrigerator leaked toxic fumes into their home. Albert Einstein and his former student, Leó Szilárd, were distressed by this tragedy and vowed to improve on the refrigerator design to prevent such accidents in the future.

In the late 1920s and into the early 1930s, Einstein and Szilárd discussed ways to improve the refrigerator design and filed various patents on their proposals. Einstein had worked in the Swiss patent office in the early 1900s, so he was experienced in the patent process and was able to file all the paperwork necessary to receive valid patents. By the end of their collaboration on an improved refrigerator, Einstein and Szilárd had been granted 45 patents for 3 unique refrigerator models.

Each of the Einstein-Szilárd models was based on entirely different physical concepts — (1) absorption, (2) diffusion, and (3) electro-magnetism (of course!). All 3 models worked without moving parts, eliminating the failure of the moving-part that caused the family tragedy in the original refrigerator design. The most promising of their patents was bought by Electrolux, and a number of demonstration units were built based on their other patents. Technology evolved to make other designs more efficient, and none of the exact Einstein-Szilárd models ever came to mass market, probably because the Great Depression prohibited refrigerator purchases by average families. Nonetheless, Discover magazine reported in 2008 that, at least, one electrical engineer thinks the Einstein refrigerator could be poised for a comeback because it does not rely on the gases that are linked to global warming.

He was cool at first. But now, every morning at 5 A.M.: Dude! You awake? You awake yet, dude?!... Take me outside! I wanna show you something I ate, then threw up, then ate again, then threw up again!... It's gonna be awwwwwwwesoooome!

Today in History: First Telegraph between U.S. President & U.K. QueenOn August 16, 1858 — 156 years ago today — U.S. President James Buchanan and Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom inaugurated the first transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings. The cable linked Valentia Harbor in Ireland to Trinity Bay in Newfoundland and reduced the communication time between North America and Europe from about 10 days — the time required to deliver messages by ship — to a matter of minutes (in this case, hours).

Queen Victoria’s message, which took 16 hours by Morse Code through 2,500 miles of cable, read as follows:The Queen desires to congratulate the President upon the successful completion of this great international work, in which the Queen has taken the deepest interest. The Queen is convinced that the President will join with her in fervently hoping that the electric cable, which now connects Great Britain with the United States, will prove an additional link between the two places whose friendship is founded upon their common interests and reciprocal esteem. The Queen has much pleasure in thus directly communicating with the President, and in renewing to him her best wishes for the prosperity of the United States.

President Buchanan replied:May the Atlantic Telegraph, under the blessing of Heaven, prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and friendship between the kindred nations, and an instrument designed by Divine Providence to diffuse religion, civilization, liberty and law throughout the world.

Exponential acceleration of technology continued forward with this achievement — as the time required to send mail was reduced from 10 days by ship to hours and eventually seconds by underwater telegraph lines. Nonetheless, there was a steep learning curve in underwater cabling as this particular cable stopped working after three weeks. It would take another 7 years before investors were ready to make another attempt using more durable cabling. But by the 1870s, the technology had developed to allow for multiple messages to be simultaneously sent in either direction. In another 4 decades, an intricate network of cables connected the United States with Britain, France, and Germany.

Today, Google is investing in a $300 million new trans-Pacific cable that will connect the U.S. to Japan at transmission speeds of 60 terabits* per second (tbps) via the internet (6 channels, each capable of 10 tbps) — 10 million times faster than most users’ cable modems allow. Exponential acceleration of technology continues!